Chapter 43: Go Kidnap Their Top Brass!

Yunhai Provincial Public Security Department.

After hanging up the phone, Li Weimin fell into deep contemplation.

Is there a problem with Ta Village?

In his view, absolutely! Judging from this name list and what Wu Youhai had witnessed in the village, things were definitely far from simple.

Yet, this was precisely what troubled Li Weimin the most.

There was no evidence! This name list was still a long way from being ironclad proof!

"Not a single whisper leaked out for two months. If Ta Village genuinely has a problem, that is truly terrifying!"

Li Weimin muttered to himself.

If things were indeed as he imagined—with thousands of people engaging in illegal and criminal activities, yet not a single scrap of information had leaked out—

it meant that this "Lin Yaodong" possessed a terrifying ability to manage people, uniting the entire village into a single heart.

At that moment, his secretary walked into the office and said, "Director, someone outside is looking for you. They said they are from Beijing and are an old classmate of yours."

"Oh?" Li Weimin raised an eyebrow, waved his hand, and said, "Let him in."

Soon, accompanied by Li Weimin's secretary, a middle-school-aged man wearing an administrative jacket with a national emblem pinned to his chest walked in.

"Old Fan?" Seeing the visitor, Li Weimin was momentarily stunned, then walked over with a smile and asked, "Don't you have my phone number? Why didn't you call in advance before coming?"

The secretary tactfully withdrew from the room.

The man known as Old Fan smiled and said, "I came down for an inspection tour and happened to pass by. Since my flight is tomorrow morning at dawn, I figured I'd drop by to see you."

Li Weimin took a bag of tea leaves from his desk drawer and said with a smile, "I usually don't even have the heart to drink this myself."

"It must have been five years since we last met, right? The last time was when I went to the ministry and we met up in Beijing," Li Weimin recalled as he handed a cup of freshly brewed tea to Fan Nong.

"Indeed. In the blink of an eye, you've become a deputy director," Fan Nong joked with a smile.

Li Weimin waved his hand dismissively. "With you stationed inside the Inner City of Beijing, your opportunities are nothing we can compare to."

The two exchanged pleasantries for a while.

Suddenly, Fan Nong asked, "During my inspection trip this time, I happened to stumble upon a very peculiar village in your region."

Li Weimin's hand holding the teacup paused. He had already guessed which strange village Fan Nong was referring to.

"Ta Village."

The two spoke almost simultaneously.

Fan Nong was the deputy director of the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development. Do not underestimate the rather plain-sounding name of this department—the power it wielded was by no means small!

Moreover, it was located in Beijing, deep within the imperial capital, right under the celestial heavens!

Fan Nong had been inspecting other cities in Yunhai Province and was passing through Dongshan City on his way back. On a whim, he checked the situation of various villages in Dongshan.

To his utter astonishment, a village named Ta Village was completely different from the rest.

Judging by its ranking, it was an impoverished village sitting at the second to last place in Dongshan City's economic standings, yet... the village's basic infrastructure was impeccably developed!

Furthermore, every single household possessed a private commuter vehicle, and the cars were all brand new, as if they had all been purchased uniformly within the past month or two.

There was not the slightest trace of "poverty" anywhere in the village. Compared to the top-tier hundred villages nationwide that he had visited, it was by no means inferior!

"Rural revitalization is a high-priority planning initiative for our country this year. I have visited hundreds of villages, both large and small, but I have never seen one quite like Ta Village," Fan Nong said, shaking his head.

"This..." Li Weimin frowned.

"Old Liu, listening to your reaction just now, you've heard of this village too?"

"This Ta Village..." Li Weimin stopped right there. After all, the whole village of Ta Village participating in illegal and criminal activities was still merely a conjecture.

Seeing him hesitate and stop mid-sentence, Fan Nong seemed to realize that something was amiss, so he voiced his own plan:

"My flight is at dawn tomorrow. I was thinking of taking some time shortly to pay an on-site inspection visit to this Ta Village."

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Li Weimin's eyes brightened, and a bold idea sparked in his mind.

'I can just tag along with Old Fan to probe and test the facade of this Tazhai!'

Fan Nong had come from Beijing and was originally in charge of rural revitalization work.

Now that this Ta Village had leaped from an impoverished village to its current state, it was entirely reasonable and proper for Fan Nong to go and learn from their experience!

"However..."

At this thought, Li Weimin began to hesitate again.

On one hand, it was still unclear whether the internal situation in Ta Village was truly as suspected, though current intelligence suggested a seventy percent probability.

On the other hand, even if it were true, the matter was of such monumental importance that he could not casually leak the information to Fan Nong, an outsider.

For a moment, he fell into a dilemma.

"Well, it's getting late. I won't be staying for a meal with you this time. Time is pressing; I'll head over to Ta Village to conduct an inspection first," Fan Nong said as he checked his watch, noting that it was already six o'clock in the evening, and prepared to stand up and leave.

"Wait!" Li Weimin suddenly called out, stopping him.

"I'll go with you!"

After much hesitation, he ultimately decided to accompany Fan Nong to check out Ta Village!

Fortunately, although he was a deputy director, he was primarily the director of the Narcotics Control Bureau and rarely ever appeared on television, so he didn't need to worry about being recognized!

Fan Nong claimed he was going for an inspection, but his plan was merely to take a stroll around inside Ta Village and have a look.

With time pressing today, he simply wouldn't have many opportunities to carry out more detailed work.

Therefore, he did not intend to issue prior notifications; he would slip into the village incognito, take a look around, and leave.

Dongshan City was the provincial capital of Yunhai Province, and the Public Security Department was naturally located right here.

To maintain a low profile, Li Weimin specially drove an ordinary sedan, and the two of them sped toward Tazhai.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

After leaving Zhang Youqian's villa and returning to his own turf, Wang Dagong immediately summoned three men.

These three were the "experts" he had mentioned earlier, each of them capable of taking on three opponents at once!

"You guys come with me to Ta Village right now and kidnap their upper management!" Wang Dagong said coldly.

As the saying goes, when the soft approach fails, resort to the hard way; when the hard way fails, resort to underhanded tactics!

Abduct everyone with prestige within the entire village and use them to coerce the rest of the villagers!

"Brother Wang, exactly who are we supposed to kidnap in that village?" one of the three asked.

"Those who wear jackets, wear glasses, and look like leaders—you can never go wrong with them!" another chimed in, trying to sound clever.